


A Pirate's Life

by Cinerari



Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 13:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16833994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinerari/pseuds/Cinerari
Summary: Harlock/Daiba drabbles.





	1. A Pirate's Life

**Author's Note:**

> These are all very old fics. This first one was a request, and the requester provided the French translation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harlock, Daiba, and Kei do their best to have fun at Disneyland Paris.

“I didn’t realize two people could be so incredibly unhappy in the happiest place on Earth,” Kei said, one brow raised as she stared us down alongside the glaring sun.

Besides managing to look more irritated, Harlock didn’t respond, so I didn’t bother to either. He’d been grumpy since we’d arrived, and no amount of dragging him on rides or buying him sweets had done a thing to change that. I slumped down lower on the bench with a quiet sigh. “Maybe we shouldn’t have come.”

Kei’s eyes narrowed. “Daiba, this was your idea, and you were having fun when we got here.” She poked at my cheek until I swatted her hand away. “Now we are going to go on another ride, and you two are going to enjoy yourselves, or so help me, I will beat the happiness into you.”

I wasn’t exactly sure how that threat made any sense, but it was still believable coming from her, so I stood to follow her lead. It must not have fazed Harlock, who just continued sitting. He’d seemed pretty okay when I’d proposed the trip, but that was probably because I’d forgotten to mention the whole Disneyland part until after he’d already agreed. He’d thought we were just going to wander around Paris, which would have meant wine, so maybe that was what had him so upset.

But never one to be put off, Kei would not allow even him to ruin her fun. “Harlock, if you don’t feel like cooperating, I can always drag you to ‘It’s a Small World’,” she said.

Harlock visibly cringed before standing along with us. “You two can go have fun on your own, really,” he said for what must have been the fifth time.

Kei smiled, shaking her head. “You know no one cares that you’re here. It’s not going to take any cool points away from you. Everyone loves Disney. And you’re coming, so quit your pouting.”

It was the first time I wondered if he was actually embarrassed being stuck in such a childish place. He did stick out like a sore thumb in the sea of excited families and bright colors. The dark, formal outfit he was wearing didn’t help him, kids kept staring at him because of the eye patch and scar. That wasn’t exactly new though. I think they might have also been talking about him a bit loudly to their parents, just judging by the looks crossing his face. I couldn’t understand much of the French a good portion of the park was speaking, and I assumed most of them couldn’t understand my Japanese. Harlock had been our translator the whole trip, and too often the only time he’d talk to us was to translate something.

“Alright,” Kei said. “We’re going to find a ride you two will like, and then we should check out a gift shop, because I haven’t had the chance to see much of any yet, and I need some souvenirs. Yattaran will throw a fit if we don’t get him a model of some sort.”

I nodded, and Harlock stood beside me, continuing to pout in his own subtle way. With that, Kei turned to continue into the next portion of the park. The streets weren’t exactly crowded, but they were still flooded with people. Everyone we passed seemed to be speaking a different language, none of which I could understand fully. I made sure to keep my eyes locked on Kei’s bright pink shirt while my arm nearly bumped into Harlock’s so we wouldn’t get separated.

“Sorry you’re not having a good time,” I said as we followed after Kei. “I didn’t mean to force you on a trip you wouldn’t like.”

“You didn’t force me on this trip,” he said. “And I don’t mean to be difficult. I just didn’t realize we weren’t going to be…”

I glanced up toward him to find his face screwed up as he debated finishing his explanation. “Drinking?” I offered.

“What? No, Daiba.” It was enough to make him smile, though it disappeared quickly. “Alone. I thought we were going to be alone on this trip.”

It took me a moment to piece together what he meant, while cheerful music jangled around in my head from one of the numerous speakers sprinkled around the park. “Oh, you didn’t know Kei was coming,” I murmured. “Guess I forgot to mention that too.”

He rubbed a hand across his face as he spoke through a sigh, his eye as far away from me as possible. “I didn’t know until she showed up at the airport. I thought…you know, it was just going to be the two of us.”

Just us…? But that meant we would have been alone in a hotel room in another country.

I blushed up to my ears, unable to even open my mouth to attempt a response. He’d wanted the trip to be for _us._ The thought made me feel lightheaded, and it only grew worse when his hand found mine. “W-wait,” I spluttered, yanking my hand away. “We can’t do that in public.”

“We’re not in Japan anymore, Daiba,” he said in a low murmur. “No one here will mind. And if they do, well, I don’t care.” Tentatively, I took the hand he offered me, my fingers trembling as they fit between his. "Now,“ he said. "What if we took off for a bit?”

“Kei would kill us,” I muttered. She had stopped looking back to make sure we were still following at that point. I think she was taking us to the huge roller coaster up ahead, but Harlock’s grip dragged me off to the right toward a branching path.

“She can text us, and we’ll meet up later,” Harlock said, a newfound smile on his face. “For now we can just go have some fun.”

I thought he would have taken us toward the exit, but that was back the way we’d come. Instead, our path was marked by a massive tree fort on one side and a equally huge gray rock formation on the other. “Where are we going?” I asked, struggling to keep up with his quick gait. Sometimes he forgot my legs were so much shorter.

“I’m not sure.” He glanced around at the attractions, definitely aimed more toward the kids. “Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

“I thought you had a plan here,” I grumbled. We were probably going to get lost, and then Kei would be even more pissed.

“We’ll just look around for a bit then. Maybe we could get something to eat…”

He stopped so short I nearly plowed into his back. Peering around, I found a wide-eyed child staring up at him. Harlock waited with his brows raised until the boy finally opened his mouth. “Es-tu un pirate?”

Harlock’s expression didn’t change, which gave me no help for a translation. His response was calm and equally unhelpful. "Oui, mais tu ne devrait pas parler aux hors-la-loi, je pourrais te jeter aux crocodiles.”

The kid’s eyes went so wide I thought they might pop out of his head, and he spun on a dime to run away without another word. “What the Hell did you do, Harlock?” I asked.

“He was asking for directions.” There was an almost invisible smirk on the corner of his lips.

“He was _not_ asking for directions. We don’t even know where we’re going.” Before I could force him to give me a real answer, my phone buzzed viciously in my pocket. Harlock’s did too, since he pulled his out at the same time.

Kei was not happy with us. “You’re both assholes,” was all the message said. My stomach sank with a newfound guilt. We’d left her alone when she was trying to make us enjoy ourselves. I was about to say we needed to go back.

“She’ll get over it,” Harlock shrugged.

“If she’s really upset, you get to talk to her,” I said as he continued on, dragging me along with him.

Either the idea wasn’t that worrying to him, or he’d stopped paying attention to me when he noticed the old-fashioned ship settled in the shallow green water pretending to be an ocean of some sort. “Look, there’s my ship,” he said with a half-smile. I could only guess what he was going on about.

There was a tunnel through the gray rocks to our left, so he decided that was our next course of action. “So about this whole, uh, vision you had for this trip,” I attempted. My voice echoed slightly through the cool shade of the cave.

He paused a moment, sighing silently. “At first I thought we were going to just do tourist things. I’ve been to Paris before, so I thought I could show you around, take you somewhere nice for dinner every night. Then you said we were coming here, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to work, but I was sure I could figure something out. But with Kei here… Well, you know how she is.”

True. Kei was very supportive of our relationship. Sometimes that made her a bit like a fly, constantly buzzing around and around. Her protectiveness became smothering quickly, and anything Harlock had planned would have gone out the window once he realized she was an addition. “Besides, I didn’t want her to feel like a third wheel,” he said.

That didn’t make ditching her right. “So we threw the third wheel off somewhere.”

“Just for an hour or two.” His voice was almost pleading. I could have easily said no. I told him no all the time, but I had to make it up to him somehow. And then I’d have to find a way to make it up to Kei if she didn’t kill me first.

“Alright-alright,” I muttered as the sun reappeared to blind me. Across a small square, a mass of greenery covered the front of what looked like an old, fading castle. My English was good, but I struggled with the full pronunciation of the ride’s title, which was painted on a sail of a mast sticking out of the ground.

“Pirates of the Caribbean,” Harlock finally told me after smiling at my attempts at the last word.

It sounded familiar… “Is this where you were giving that kid directions to?”

He snorted, which was definitely the oddest thing I’d ever heard him do. “Would you like to try it out?” he asked.

Or maybe that was the oddest thing. “I don’t know. What is it?”

He shrugged, which wasn’t helpful, so I punched his arm as hard as I could. As usual, it just made him smile. “We can just try it.” He seemed more interested in the restaurant we passed than the ride itself, insisting we should eat there afterward.

Waiting in line was… Well, it happened. It happened for quite a while, but the line always seemed to be moving at least. There were little set pieces to look at, and a lot more of the kids seemed interested in staring at Harlock. “Arrgh,” he said halfheartedly to one of the girls who just couldn’t seem to look away. I asked him if he was drunk, and he only snickered at me.

When we finally made it to the cars, they looked like sort of like big rowboats with chairs in them. We took the back row in ours. Harlock was mildly amused by the seatbelts but complied with them, and we started off.

The air of the ride was somewhat warm with humidity. The water along with most of the area around us was black, with large yellow spotlights highlighting the scenes around us. Animatronics dotted every corner, their movements awkward but cute. Harlock was not impressed, especially not with the sword fighting ones. “They’re not even trying,” he grumbled.

“They’re not real,” I reminded him, more concerned with actually trying to enjoy myself. It was more important that one of the houses was on fire. “Is that supposed to be on fire?” I asked.

“Yes, Daiba. It’s not real.” His tone was a bit too patronizing for my liking, especially when our little boat turned to go under the flaming house. “Don’t worry,” Harlock said as his arm went around my shoulders. Then his hand appeared at my chin. He was being weird, and that was more worrying than anything.

With the fake house flames warming the top of my head, he kissed me. I guessed I was seeing stars, because there was this bright flash right before the boat seemed to drop out from under me along with my stomach. I dug my fingers like claws into the side of Harlock’s shirt as my vision erupted into scenes of canon fire. We landed with a harsh splash, and I found Harlock snickering, so I elbowed him in the ribs.

What was he so happy about, bastard?

There was a little more to the ride, but I was too busy reliving my own embarrassment in my head to pay attention. Right out the end of the ride was a gift shop, as there always was, but I also didn’t pay much attention to it. I was mad and hungry, and the two didn’t go together well.

“You said we could get food after this,” I grumbled, tugging on his arm like a child throwing a tantrum.

“Yes, but-“

“Food!” I hauled him back outside toward the nearby restaurant. The inside looked like…outside. There were trees, rocks and sand forming a little beach. Even the ceiling looked like the night sky through a dense canopy. Well, whatever got me food.

Harlock was happy through dinner, even as I stuffed way too much bread into my face in an attempt to ignore him. To anyone else, he probably would have looked bored, but there was that glimmer in his eye, that loving adoration that always made me blush. The meal was some really good fish, but I kept getting distracted by the gentle rumble of his voice. “I’m always happy to spend time with you, and Kei too, but it’s nice to have some time alone.” His hand appeared over mine. “It’s just too bad we don’t have our own room.”

“This is a family park,” I hissed. “You be quiet.” The candlelight wasn’t helping, and I was a bit of a mess the whole meal. I wouldn’t have thought things could get any worse, but Kei was standing there when we walked out.

“It’s about time,” she said, seemingly calm. “I went all the way to the British food place over in Fantasyland and back, and I still had to wait on you two.” She dug through the plastic bag draped over her arm as she continued. “You know, you could have just told me you wanted to go off on your own. I have a better time without you two anyway, but since you were both total dicks about it…” She shoved a package of some sort into my hands. “You are going to put that on when we get back to the hotel, and I get pictures.”

I blinked down at the…gift and wondered why they even made Tinker Bell outfits in my size. “I’m fine with that,” Harlock said. My face was hotter than the sun had been all day.

“Oh no, you get this one,” Kei smirked.

Harlock was less enthused with his costume. “Why am I the villain?” Personally, I thought Captain Hook suited him well.

“Because I’m Peter Pan, of course,” Kei said, showing us her pick of costume. But why couldn’t she be Tinker Bell? “I also got this for myself.” In her hand was a framed picture of what my brain slowly realized was us on the ride. Specifically, it was the exact moment Harlock had kissed me.

“Burn it,” I hissed, clawing for the picture. “Why does it exist? Get rid of it!”

“But I was going to get that,” Harlock said, clearly disappointed.

At the moment it finally clicked for me, and I turned on him instead. “You planned that!” I snapped. “You said you didn’t know anything about that ride, but you were _lying_.”

He held up his hands in mock surrender and simply nodded. Ugh, they were both horrible. This was the _worst_ trip.

“So tomorrow are we going to explore the City of Lights a bit?” Harlock prodded. I was too busy ignoring him to answer.

“But we still have so much of the park to look at,” Kei said, shaking her head. She then pinched my cheek. “If you don’t stop being grumpy, I will buy you one of those mouse ear hats, and you will wear it too. Look, even Harlock is happy now.”

He did look happy, but I had a feeling it was because he’d managed to snatch the picture. Tomorrow, I would be the third wheel so I could ditch the two of them. 


	2. Slow Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A request for the prompt "slow dancing."

I didn’t own much. People assumed the Arcadia was mine, but that was far from accurate. My real belongings were the necessities in my room along with a few scattered memories. Even those I only held for friends and loved ones who were no longer in this world. Though the objects rarely saw anything but darkened corners or drawers, when Daiba found the record player in my closet, he hauled it out.

“What is it?” he asked in awe. Usually I would have scolded him for snooping, but the old record player was a harmless find. He sat on his knees in front of it, opening and closing the lid.

“It was my father’s,” I said. “An old family heirloom. It’s a record player. It plays music.”

Daiba fiddled with the dials and smacked at the side in an attempt to make it sing. “It’s so huge,” he said. “Must store a lot of music.”

I couldn’t hide a smile as I retraced his steps to the closet and retrieved a case from the top shelf. “It doesn’t store any music. The music comes on discs, and you have to put them on the player.”

As I pulled one from the case, I could tell by the way Daiba’s eyes widened he imagined much smaller discs. When I handed it to him, he held its edges with the tips of his fingers, as though it could shatter with rougher handling. “What the hell?” he muttered. “You’re making all this up. There’s no way.”

“I’ll prove it,” I said.

From his seat in front of the player, he watched with curiosity gleaming in those bright eyes of his. When the needle touched down and the music began, he smacked his hands to the floor. I watch the cogs of his mind whir as he peered around every inch of the machine, trying to make sense of it.

His face screwed up in confusion when the machine didn’t reveal any secrets to him. “So there are hundreds of songs on the discs, right?” A light waltz played from the current vinyl, sweet and bouncing through my usually-quiet room.

“No, there are usually five or so per side,” I said, smiling as he stared at the machine in pure horror.

“What’s the point?”

“It’s old technology, Daiba – one of the first means of portable music. It still sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

“Portable,” he snorted in disbelief. “But I guess if you like that old fancy music, it’s fine.” He stood, dusting off his knees. It seemed the whole thing offended him somehow. I guessed he was upset he couldn’t understand the simple mechanics behind it.

I held out a hand to him. “I am a fan of old, fancy music. It’s good for dancing.”

He stared at my hand as though it had also offended him. “I have no idea how to dance to this,” he huffed. “You can go have fun with this one on your own.”

“You can’t waltz on your own.”

“Sure you can.” He crossed his arms as if to say that was that. There would be no dancing.

But I was just as stubborn as him. He would not win this. Pulling out a different record, I swapped the two. Daiba blinked as the new song came on. Melancholic, sweeping chords filled the room, dripping with romantic flare. “What is this?” he asked, unimpressed.

“It’s a slow dance song. Everyone can slow dance. It takes no effort.” I tugged one of his hands free of his crossed arms and pulled him toward the center of the room. Begrudgingly, he allowed me to lead him to proper form. When my hand touched his back, his spine stiffened. His eyes shot to our feet.

“You can relax,” I said. “It’s easier to dance if you do.”

That was not an option for Daiba. Every movement was stiff. No matter how slow I went, I had to nudge his feet each time because he refused to move them.

With a sigh, I gave up on proper form. “Daiba, just stand on my feet.”

“What?” He still didn’t look up, brow furrowed.

“It won’t hurt me.” He barely weighed anything. “It’s how people learn to dance at first.” That part was a bit of a lie. Standing on a dancer’s feet was reserved for small children, but Daiba didn’t seem to know that.

His face burned red as he stepped onto my feet. His cheek brushed my chest. The hand against my arm turned into a claw that dug into my skin. Either he held on for dear life, or he was desperate to get away.

“Dancing is more fun if you relax,” I reminded him. Though I more waddled now than danced, I managed a bit of a twirl that made his lips curl toward a smile. Then he hid his face against my chest with a small huff.

“You’re the worst,” he grumbled.

“You can’t blame me for this. You were the one digging around in my things.”


	3. Change-Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt "cosplay." This one is very light in terms of pairing content.

Everyone on the Arcadia was given a small payment each month, lovingly referred to as an allowance by the crew. With it, they could buy what they pleased, though Harlock’s original mindset was that it should be stored away in case of an emergency. Few of the crewman actually bothered to do that, and Daiba was known to immediately spend every cent of it as soon as he had the opportunity.

He was also known to forget to knock, and as Harlock pulled a wine bottle from his rack, he heard the door to his room thrown open. “Captain, look-look. Captain, look what I got. Look!”

Harlock turned slowly as Daiba slid across the floor in a new pair of boots, his steps slipping out from under him as he attempted to stop his run and catch his breath. Though Harlock didn’t share the teen’s enthusiasm, it was easy to see why Daiba was so excited. The cool green uniform had been replaced by a familiar classic, a sleek white suit with red detailing on the sleeves and pant legs. A large red, anchor-like design was set in the center of his chest and trailed up to form the collar.

“Hello there, strategist,” Harlock said, amused.

“I’m not just any strategist,” Daiba huffed, obviously offended that Harlock knew so little. He stuck a thumb into the anchor design. “I’m Susumu Kodai.”

“You’re just a bit blond for it,” Harlock countered, “…and small.”

Daiba twirled a strand of hair around his finger with a scowl. “I’ve just gotta dye my hair is all, and he wasn’t that much older than me when he first started, you know. But anyway, I got you one too.” He took the box from under his arm and shoved it into his captain’s hands. “You should put it on.”

He tried to find an adequate reason to say no, some sort of excuse, but he had none. He wasn’t doing anything, and Daiba had gotten it specifically for him. It was a gift…for some reason. “Am I a strategist too?” he asked as he pulled the lid off.

“Of course not. I’m the head strategist.”

The Yamato’s first captain then, he thought, but this outfit was certainly not the right color. He pulled out each garment, a slow realization settling on him. The gray shirt and pants, the black and red cape much like his own – he was the alien, Desler. “I’m not blue, Daiba,” he frowned.

“Well…I thought you’d like it since it looks like you based your cape off his.”

His youngest crewman’s expression was falling as it seemed he didn’t appreciate his present. “It’s fine, Daiba,” he backpedaled quickly. “It works well.”

“Then try it on!” Daiba begged eagerly. “You can be my mortal enemy.”

“I don’t think that’s-“

“Try it on!”

Once Harlock had caved and was changing, he suddenly wondered how Daiba had been able to get the sizing so accurate for him. The costume fit nicely, and he couldn’t say he didn’t feel comfortable and perhaps a bit handsome in it.

When he stepped out, he finally asked what he’d been curious about the entire time. “Daiba, why did you buy these anyway?”

The teen had been lounging across his bed but quickly jumped up, enthralled with the Captain’s outfit. “Because they were cool, and I had money.”

Maybe he needed to stop giving Daiba money. Then again, the teen did look cute in his outfit, and it was always nice to have admiring eyes taking him in. “I hope you understand that I’m not going to wear this on a regular basis,” the captain said as he adjusted his gloves.

“Yeah,” Daiba nodded. “You should only wear it for me.”

They both paused for a moment, as if trying to rewind a bit.

Daiba finally released his tongue from being bitten. “That sounded a bit-”

“Yes it did,” Harlock cut him off.

Again they paused for a moment, and Daiba decided to put an end to it. “So while we’re on the subject, how does my butt look in this?”

“No allowance for the next month.”


	4. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daiba tries hard to be a good boyfriend. He really does.

The brass handle of one door rattled against my attempts to push it open. Grabbing the handle of the other door yielded the same result. Quite the problem, considering my room only locked from the inside.

Before my fingers could curl around my gun, a trembling voice slipped through the gap between the doors. “Um, Captain, that is you, right?” Daiba wasn’t the type to speak with any hesitance, not since he’d affirmed his place aboard the ship. On occasion he allowed his nerves to show around me, either when he worried about reprimand or when he asked me on a date, though the latter involved more false anger than fear.

“It’s me,” I answered, wondering if he broke something of mine. I couldn’t imagine why he decided to take residence in my room so late at night. Half an hour before, when just a few stragglers remained on the bridge, he said he was going to bed and left.

“Are you going to let me in?” I asked.

The quick breath of a huff slipped through the door. “Yeah, just-” He heaved another sigh. “I’ll unlock the door, and you wait five seconds before you open it.”

“Alright,” I said. Life was easier when I simply went along with his whims, at least the harmless ones.

“Promise?” he asked like a fearful child.

“I promise.” At the sound of the lock clicking, I began to count. One…two…

I learned to stop questioning Daiba’s actions some time ago, at least out loud. Endless questions rolled through my head over what he could have broken or if he was hiding it somewhere. No matter what, I would notice anything out of place. My room was organized just as it had been the first day the Arcadia sailed.

Three…four…five…

Behind the doors, something fell to the floor, and Daiba squeaked. I gave him an extra second before grabbing the handle. “I’m coming in,” I said, though I waited another moment to hear his response.

“Okay-okay.” His voice was caught somewhere between anger and fear, so it was no surprise when I opened the door to find a pout planted firmly on his face. What did surprise me was everything else, and I stopped cold in the doorway. My wide eye wandered from the burning pink blush covering his face to the satin of the same color that barely covered what it needed to on him.

He sat on my desk, hands clutched so tightly to the edge that they were blotched red and white. Freshly shaved legs shone form the lights of the room and were crossed so tightly I wondered if he might lose circulation. My gaze traced up from his bare feet to the black lace fringe that marked the end of the satin piece. Any shorter and it could have been classified as a shirt. Pencil-thin straps traced over his shoulders, one slipping toward his arm.

I didn’t know what to feel, but Daiba looked nothing short of terrified. “Close the door,” he hissed. Even his ears turned the shade of his face, visible beneath waves of combed hair. I doubted I’d ever seen him with his hair combed.

I took another step in to close the door behind me, but no tension eased from his frame. He only looked more mortified as the seconds ticked by, eyes widening as they took in the floor. His toes curled as if to fight of the trembling that began to take hold of him.

Still unsure what to say, I stood with my mouth open until words fell out. “Are you alright?”

“Am I attractive?” he gasped as though he’d held the question in all this time. Demanding eyes shot up to me. “I’m not just cute, right? I’m an attractive adult…” He chewed at his bottom lip, hands tugging at the hem of the lingerie.

“Yes,” I said, partially because I couldn’t say anything else in good conscience. “You’re very attractive, Daiba, but are you doing this willingly?” He looked so upset, and this seemed like the sort of thing Kei would pressure him into.

“Of course,” he mumbled. His hands flitted in every direction, never staying in one spot for more than a few seconds. He clawed his hair into his eyes to hide as much of his face as possible. “I wanted to surprise you. You don’t…like it.”

His lips shook with the rest of him, and I realized my mistake. In three steps, I was across the room with my arms around him. “You look very nice, Daiba,” I sighed as he hid his face against my shoulder. “You just didn’t seem very comfortable in it. You don’t have to push yourself to do things you’re not comfortable with for my sake.”

He sniffled. “But I’m hot right?”

I didn’t like calling anyone hot, such an odd word, but he pulled away with red-rimmed eyes and one strap fallen from his shoulder. “Yes, Daiba,” I said as I unfastened my cape. “You’re so hot this room is uncomfortably stuffy.”

His brow furrowed, eyes narrowed in on me in disbelief. “Captain, were you trying to be smooth, because that was terrible.”

Under his disapproving glare, I scratched at the back of my neck. “It’s not one of my strong suits.” Not that he was one to talk on the matter, considering the circumstances.

As soon as I set my cape on the desk beside him, he picked it up and placed it on his shoulders instead, folding it around himself to cover his thighs. “You have to feel my legs though.” He kicked one up to show me. “Kei helped me wax them, and I did not go through that for you to not touch them.”

“You didn’t have to wax your legs for me. I’m not that particular.” Still, I pulled off my gloves to run a hand up his shin. As soon as I brushed his knee, his leg popped back down. Clearly, that was my limit on height for now. “Did Kei also help you pick out the outfit?” I asked.

He breathed out his nose like an agitated bull. “She helped me, but I picked it out. She said you’d like black better, but I like pink, so I got pink.” His cheeks regained the shade. “The black ones were much…thinner. I’ll get one of those another time.”

My mind wandered a bit more than it should have, and I found myself scratching at my scar to hide the heat in my face. “As long as you’re doing it because you want to,” I said. “So what exactly did you want to do tonight in your new outfit?”

It appeared his mind wandered too, along with his eyes as far away from me as possible. But whatever thoughts filled his head did not agree with his mouth. “A movie!” he spluttered. “We should watch a movie!”

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. Of course, a movie. It was always best to go along with Daiba’s harmless little demands.

He buried himself in the blankets of my bed while I took a projecting tablet from my desk to serve as our theater. Though I tried to sit over the sheets to keep him comfortable, he demanded I be able to touch his legs more, so we ended up under the same layers of blankets. He curled himself against my side, pressed so close it was more comfortable to sit with one arm around him.

“What do you want to watch?” I asked as he flipped through the selections on the hologram with quick swipes of his finger. “We’re limited on movies without subliminal messaging.”

“I want car chases and explosions.”

“That’s not very romantic.”

He gave another huff. “You can still kiss me if you want.”

Fair enough. With my free hand, I pressed my fingers to his jaw to lean his face toward me. As though he’d forgotten his own words, he looked my way in confusion. I placed a simple kiss to his lips, long enough to feel the heat radiating from his face and the chewed skin of his lower lip.

It was hard not to think of him as cute when I pulled away to find another pout settling on his flushed face. Attractive, cute, hot, whatever – I found him gorgeous no matter what word he wanted to use for it. He didn’t need to dress up or shave or even comb his hair for that.


	5. Trust Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt "How much do they trust each other?"

Clearly my legs were longer than Daiba’s, and I could jump farther, but this was getting ridiculous. “Daiba, just jump,” I said for the dozenth time. “You don’t even have to make it halfway. I’ll catch you.”

He shook his head wildly, his hair whipping in every direction. His wide eyes were locked on the seemingly bottomless chasm that separated us. He looked dizzy, likely from vertigo, and I was certain the only reason he hadn’t sat down was because I’d specifically told him not to.

The gap was no more than two yards across, splitting our rocky path into two cliff sides. It was the closest the two sides came as far as I could see, and I had made the jump without a problem. If he didn’t follow, we would have to find a way around to get back to the ship, and that could take hours.

“Then let this be a lesson,” I said, crossing my arms. “Crashing Cosmo fighters means having to walk back over difficult terrain. Now come on, Daiba.”

“It would be fine if it was just walking!” he spat. His eyes flashed from the gap to me before he took another step back.

I sighed through my nose. Sure, the gap was wider than he was tall, but he certainly had the strength in his small frame to make the jump. “Just get a running start, and leap across,” I said. “No matter what, I’ll make sure you don’t fall.” I doubted I would need to lend him any aid, but if consoling words were what it took to get him to try, then I would give him them.

He leaned his weight between his feet with clear fear and anxiety written across his face. His stubbornness always was a problem, but he went into fights with Mazone with less worry than this. “Daiba,” I attempted again. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” he said through a small whine.

“Do you trust me to catch you if anything goes wrong?”

He nodded, though he wouldn’t look at me.

“So why not jump?”

Though his face has been unnaturally pale since we’d come across the gap, his cheeks began burning a deep red that spread out to the rest of his face and the tips of his ears. “I don’t want to!” he snapped. “I’ll go around.” As if I’d somehow offended him, he turned on a dime and started off down the flat, barren wasteland of a planet.

It looked like we were going to have to do things the hard way.

He jumped and spun back around as he heard me land solidly back on his side. “Come on, Daiba,” I said as I closed the gap between us. He didn’t understand my intentions until my arm swiped his legs out from under him.

“No!” he howled. “I do not need you help!” He was trying to be stubborn, but he just sounded panicked. I held him easily in a bridal carry as he tried to punch at my chest to get me to let go. There was no power behind his swings, and he was almost hilariously light. Sometimes I forgot how small he really was.

“I’m not helping,” I said as I stepped back into position for a running start. “I’m doing it for you.”

His response was a desperate string of “no” spoken in rapid succession. His arms shot to hold a death grip around my neck, and he shook like a leaf against me. “Daiba,” I called gently. “You can trust me. I wouldn’t let you fall.”

“But what happens when _we_ fall?” he stuttered in sheer terror. He’d pressed himself to me to keep as far away from the gap as possible.

I smiled, leaning my face down to breathe into his hair. “If I really wasn’t going to make it, I’d still make sure you did. Either way, I’ll get you across.”

“That is so stupid,” he muttered. Tears pricked at his eyes. “I don’t want you to die from some dumb fall. You’re so stupid.”

“Do you trust me to make it?” I asked. If he honestly did not, I wasn’t going to jump. We would find a way around, or we would wait for the Arcadia to finish repairs and let it pick us up.

He swallowed before jerkily forcing his head to nod. “Y-yeah,” he managed. “I do.”

And so I ran and jumped just as I had twice before. Even with the extra weight, I made it by a mile. Daiba seemed close to having a panic attack even after we’d made it to solid ground, but then he laughed. It was more of a high, uneven twitter as his nerves dispersed. “Dear God, we made it,” he murmured dazedly.

I was about to say something smug, but he grabbed the back of my head and wrenched me into a desperate kiss, stealing my words. Before I could properly react, he rolled out of my arms and began wandering on unsteady legs back toward the ship. Another odd laugh left him, while I stood there staring at his back.

Well, perhaps that was his means of paying me back for the assistance. I couldn’t say I minded the method.


End file.
